McElprang Family Christmas

On Christmas Eve we had had dinner with Cory's family and opened presents with them. It was nice to sit back, relax, and spend some quality time with his side of the family.

Christmas is Coming!

I'm pretty much done with all of my Christmas preparations. Other than a few things for Cory I have all of my gifts purchased, wrapped, and nestled under our Christmas trees. I've got all three of my Christmas trees decorated and my house lights up. This year one of my Christmas trees have a fishing theme. It's definitely my favorite tree this year.



Last night my uncle John, aunt Tracy, and cousins got in from Colorado. It's going to be so fun to have them here for Christmas this year. And then on Tuesday the big man arrives...SAM! We're so excited for him to get here we can hardly stand it. He gets in Tuesday night, the perfect Christmas gift for all of us.

Winter Formal

This past weekend my sweet little sis Cami had her first formal dance. I can hardly believe she's old enough to go to dances! It makes me feel way too old:)

Thanksgiving, Take 2

We celebrated our second Thanksgiving last week with the entire McElprang clan. They planned their family reunion Thanksgiving week so I was able to meet some of the extended family. We all had lots of fun together with a pizza night, Thanksgiving dinner, and a movie night on Friday. Thanks to all who made the long trip to Arizona:)

The Eagle Has Landed

On Wednesday Jake officially reported to the MTC. A guy that Jake and Greggy know picked them up from the airport and dropped them off at the MTC for us. He was nice enough to email my parents the following pictures:





Good luck Jake and Greggy! We love you guys!

B-B-B-Ballin!

Today Cory "reached baller status" (his words). In the mail he received an offer for the Visa Black card. Even though we are way too stingy to pay the outrageous annual fees, the simple fact that he was offered the card is enough for him. It's funny how the littlest things can make someone's day:) Haha.

Out of Africa

So Monday was out 2 year anniversary but with Jake leaving for his mission and all, we didn't really do much on Monday. So, today, after we sad our tear-felt goodbyes to Jakey, Cory and I headed up north to Out of Africa in Camp Verde, AZ. I know, it doesn't sound like the most romantic anniversary trip, but we had to find something to do together without having to take off work and spend the night somewhere. We'd just gone to the Grand Canyon a couple of months ago, so we settled on Camp Verde instead. Pulling into the park I was quite disappointed. There were hoards of kiddos and moms and school groups and we seemed to be the only child-lacking adults in the place. But, it was actually pretty neat. Much better than a zoo. We were literally feet away from lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) and could've probably had our hands chewed off if we so dared. Beyond the up close and personal caged animals, they have this big open area of land where they drive you around for a safari-like experience. We saw zebras and giraffes and all kinds of other things up close and personal. Cory got to feed a giraffe a carrot with his mouth and ended up getting a little more tongue than he bargained for.












After spending a few hours at the park, we had some time and headed over to Montezuma's Castle. We were already there so we figured, "what the hey", and decided to check it out. It took all of fifteen minutes but it was kind of neat to see.





After getting in touch with our native American history, Cory just had to stop and fish. So, we stopped by the river and let him fish for a bit. He did manage to catch a fish in the fifteen minutes that we spent fishing, which was good enough for him.






All in all, it was a pretty fun-filled anniversary.